Behind the Scenes of 'You': The Show's Production Designer Shares Secrets of Joe's London Flat
Courtesy of Netflix
As Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) takes on a whole new persona in season four of Netflix's You (part two drops Wednesday night!), his chances of leaving his criminal tendencies behind him are foiled by an anonymous blackmailing suspect.
At first a safe space to hide after his day job as a professor, his charming London flat quickly becomes a hotspot for murder, leaving Joe to wonder who among his new high-status friends could be the culprit. Perhaps it's his neighbor, Kate (Charlotte Ritchie), whose boyfriend Malcolm (Stephen Hagan) was mysteriously killed — and whose secrets Joe loves to peep at through his window.
Nonetheless, Joe's apartment kickstarts the murder mystery that unfolds in part one of the latest season, and PEOPLE caught up with production designer, Kevin Phipps, to uncover all the hidden details behind the ominous space.
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PEOPLE: What is a mews house and why is it the perfect setup for Joe's story this season?
Kevin Phipps: In London, there are these squares of giant five or six-storied terraced housing, and then behind them are these very cute little mews houses. It's a small house linked to a back alley. Historically, the master of the house would live in the big house, and then the servants and the drivers would live in the mews, where the horses and carriages would be kept. They're quite close to each other.
I thought it would be an interesting relationship to get the two dwellings close to each other, so you've got the sight lines across. You could actually look across the little inner courtyard into Kate and Malcolm's apartment. And then, of course, now the mews house is an incredibly fashionable place to live, and incredibly expensive. It's a very desirable piece of real estate.
PEOPLE: Did Penn Badgley get involved in the set design process at all?
Phipps: Most of the time, Penn would come onto any of the sets really, and just say, "Hey, great," as long as he had the props and things he would need for that particular scene. Penn actually directed episode nine, and so, I enjoyed working with him in a different context, as a director and showing him production design elements.
The first day he came onto the set, I showed him around and the crew got together for what they call the crew show, when the action can be blocked. And he said, "Before we do anything, I'd just like to call out the art department and thank them for doing such a fantastic redress of this space. It's absolutely phenomenal." I really appreciate that kind of generosity — sharing his thanks to not just me as the head of department, but to all the set decorators, set dressers, carpenters, painters and the tradesmen that actually had put the set together.
Courtesy of Netflix
PEOPLE: When Joe moves in, the home is already furnished and has its own character. What inspired that?
Phipps: In episode one, to give the space a backstory, we're saying that Joe has sublet a flat from another university professor who's gone off on a sabbatical. So his flat was already inhabited. There's a story in the furnishings, the books, the pieces of art, and the artifacts in the room. So the mews house has been in the professor's family for a couple of generations, and there's a lot of buildup of age and set dressing to give a visual interest and a story behind the space.
PEOPLE: How would you describe the design style of the home?
Phipps: Well, it was a very traditional paneled room. Lots of good authentic period details. The choice of moldings was very carefully considered, as were the design of the windows, to give a very authentic Victorian aesthetic to the building. And then, in the choice of some of the furniture and the fabrics, we'd updated it a bit to a sort of mid-century vibe. There was an oak parquet floor, and it had been restored and painted. Some aging was put into all the nooks and crannies of the space.
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Courtesy of Netflix
PEOPLE: What are some design touches you added to make it more Joe's space?
Phipps: We set up a little book binding work station. That's something that Joe would've brought into the space where, in his quiet moments, he would've done some book restoration work.
PEOPLE: How was Joe's apartment clearly different from Kate and Malcolm's?
Phipps: Contrasting Joe's world — which was kind of old, deep, and very textured — Kate and Malcolm's apartment on the opposite side was more nouveau riche. They would've hired an interior decorator, and so their space had a rich, tasteful, measured design. Very choice items. And then, with Kate being an art dealer, a lot of the artwork in there was quite carefully curated. That was very of Kate's world.
Courtesy of Netflix
PEOPLE: Were there any unexpected or last minute touches you added to the space?
Phipps: The kitchen had been modernized, but everything still looked used. I took the knife block from my own kitchen at home that we'd had for several years. You know when you put the knives in and you miss slightly, and it chips, things like that. The set dressing team bought a new knife block, which I took and swapped in our family's knife block, just to give that degree of aging.
You season 4, Part 2 will be released Thursday, March 9 on Netflix.
